Merge pull request #91 from jsor-labs/readme-improvements

Readme improvements

Author: jsor

README.md

@@ -8,36 +8,22 @@ Event loop abstraction layer that libraries can use for evented I/O.
 In order for async based libraries to be interoperable, they need to use the
 same event loop. This component provides a common `LoopInterface` that any
 library can target. This allows them to be used in the same loop, with one
-single `run` call that is controlled by the user.
+single `run()` call that is controlled by the user.
 
 > The master branch contains the code for the upcoming 0.5 release.
 For the code of the current stable 0.4.x release, checkout the
 [0.4 branch](https://github.com/reactphp/event-loop/tree/0.4).
 
-In addition to the interface there are some implementations provided:
+**Table of Contents**
 
-* `StreamSelectLoop`: This is the only implementation which works out of the
-  box with PHP. It does a simple `select` system call. It's not the most
-  performant of loops, but still does the job quite well.
-
-* `LibEventLoop`: This uses the `libevent` pecl extension. `libevent` itself
-  supports a number of system-specific backends (epoll, kqueue).
-
-* `LibEvLoop`: This uses the `libev` pecl extension
-  ([github](https://github.com/m4rw3r/php-libev)). It supports the same
-  backends as libevent.
-
-* `ExtEventLoop`: This uses the `event` pecl extension. It supports the same
-  backends as libevent.
-
-All of the loops support these features:
-
-* File descriptor polling
-* One-off timers
-* Periodic timers
-* Deferred execution of callbacks
+* [Quickstart example](#quickstart-example)
+* [Usage](#usage)
+* [Loop implementations](#loop-implementations)
+* [Install](#install)
+* [Tests](#tests)
+* [License](#license)
 
-## Usage
+## Quickstart example
 
 Here is an async HTTP server built with just the event loop.
 
@@ -46,6 +32,7 @@ $loop = React\EventLoop\Factory::create();
 
 $server = stream_socket_server('tcp://127.0.0.1:8080');
 stream_set_blocking($server, 0);
+
 $loop->addReadStream($server, function ($server) use ($loop) {
     $conn = stream_socket_accept($server);
     $data = "HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Length: 3\r\n\r\nHi\n";
@@ -69,7 +56,92 @@ $loop->addPeriodicTimer(5, function () {
 $loop->run();
 ```
 
-**Note:** The factory is just for convenience. It tries to pick the best
-available implementation. Libraries `SHOULD` allow the user to inject an
-instance of the loop. They `MAY` use the factory when the user did not supply
-a loop.
+## Usage
+
+Typical applications use a single event loop which is created at the beginning
+and run at the end of the program.
+
+```php
+// [1]
+$loop = React\EventLoop\Factory::create();
+
+// [2]
+$loop->addPeriodicTimer(1, function () {
+    echo "Tick\n";
+});
+
+$stream = new React\Stream\ReadableResourceStream(
+    fopen('file.txt', 'r'),
+    $loop
+);
+
+// [3]
+$loop->run();
+```
+
+1. The loop instance is created at the beginning of the program. A convenience
+   factory `React\EventLoop\Factory::create()` is provided by this library which
+   picks the best available [loop implementation](#loop-implementations).
+2. The loop instance is used directly or passed to library and application code.
+   In this example, a periodic timer is registered with the event loop which
+   simply outputs `Tick` every second and a
+   [readable stream](https://github.com/reactphp/stream#readableresourcestream)
+   is created by using ReactPHP's
+   [stream component](https://github.com/reactphp/stream) for demonstration
+   purposes.
+3. The loop is run with a single `$loop->run()` call at the end of the program.
+
+## Loop implementations
+
+In addition to the interface there are the following implementations provided:
+
+* `StreamSelectLoop`: This is the only implementation which works out of the
+  box with PHP. It does a simple `select` system call. It's not the most
+  performant of loops, but still does the job quite well.
+
+* `LibEventLoop`: This uses the `libevent` pecl extension. `libevent` itself
+  supports a number of system-specific backends (epoll, kqueue).
+
+* `LibEvLoop`: This uses the `libev` pecl extension
+  ([github](https://github.com/m4rw3r/php-libev)). It supports the same
+  backends as libevent.
+
+* `ExtEventLoop`: This uses the `event` pecl extension. It supports the same
+  backends as libevent.
+
+All of the loops support these features:
+
+* File descriptor polling
+* One-off timers
+* Periodic timers
+* Deferred execution of callbacks
+
+## Install
+
+The recommended way to install this library is [through Composer](http://getcomposer.org).
+[New to Composer?](http://getcomposer.org/doc/00-intro.md)
+
+This will install the latest supported version:
+
+```bash
+$ composer require react/event-loop
+```
+
+## Tests
+
+To run the test suite, you first need to clone this repo and then install all
+dependencies [through Composer](http://getcomposer.org):
+
+```bash
+$ composer install
+```
+
+To run the test suite, go to the project root and run:
+
+```bash
+$ php vendor/bin/phpunit
+```
+
+## License
+
+MIT, see [LICENSE file](LICENSE).